Haneun shivered and quickened her pace, reaching her doorsteps. She rubbed her hands together, blowing hot air on them to attempt to warm them up before searching inside her bag for her keys. Haneun unlocked the door and stepped into the house, closing the door quickly. She jogged on the spot, hoping to raise her own body temperature before walking into the living room.

"Ah jinjja..." she muttered, looking at the thermostat which indicated that no heating was on whatsoever. "Grandma, where are you? Why didn't you put the heating on?" she asked, heading off to turn the heating on. "Grandma? Are you here?" 

Haneun searched around the house but there was no sign of her grandma. However she found a note stuck on the fridge and Haneun sighed, taking the note off.

Haneun

I have gone out to buy some groceries. There is food for you in the fridge. I'll be back soon.

Grandma

"Grocery?" Haneun muttered and opened the fridge, finding a plate of kimchi fried rice inside. "Aigoo, grandma...you could at least cook me something else..." she sighed, getting the plate out and put it into the microwave. While waiting, she went out to the living room and sat on the sofa, looking through the letters on the coffee table. "Oh?"

She found a letter addressed to her which was a surprise to Haneun because she never received any letters. She opened the letter and unfold it, reading it silently.

Miss Lee Haneun,

Arario Academy is happy to inform you that we have accepted your application to our school. This letter is to notify you that our school term times are different to your current school. School begins in January and ends in November. As this is a boarding school, included with this letter is a list of items that you may need to bring with you along with your school books. Uniforms will be given to you upon arrival, after registration. 

We look forward to seeing you

With regards,

Cho Joong Hoon, Head Teacher of Arario Academy

"Application? What application?" Haneun frowned and read the letter again then took a look at the list of items she had to get. "Aigoo...that grandma..."

Just as Haneun said that, the front door opened and her grandmother walked in. Haneun got up to help her with the groceries, taking all the bags into the kitchen and put all the groceries away. "Have you seen the letters?" her grandmother asked.

"What's Arario Academy? When did I apply? My school is just fine, grandma," Haneun said, sitting down at the dining table and watched as her grandmother put away groceries in the fridge. "Did you do something behind my back, grandma?"

"I'm your grandmother, I can do anything and everything behind your back," the old lady said, turning her back to Haneun who pulled a face. "Put that tongue away, young lady. Let me see the item list."

Haneun pulled her tongue back into and pouted as she went to get her letter, handing it to her grandmother. The old lady read the letter before taking a look at the item list. "Grandma...are you seriously making me go to this school? It's a boarding school, I won't be able to see you."

"I see you everyday and I'm sick of it," her grandmother said. "It's time you go to Arario Academy. That's where your parents went."

Haneun went silent and her grandmother knew she had her hooked. Anything and everything about her parents was Haneun's weakness. "Are we going shopping for all those things then?"

Her grandmother smiled and nodded. "We'll go tomorrow."

~School starts~

Haneun opened her eyes when the bus went over a bump. The journey to Arario Academy was long and Haneun seemed to be the only one taking the exclusive school bus. After her little nap, Haneun noticed that they were now on an island, heading to a gloomy looking building. As the bus stopped, Haneun struggled to get her luggage off the bus. 

She lifted her huge luggage and dropped it on the ground, panting a little. As soon as she got off, the bus pulled away and rumbled off, leaving Haneun in the middle of what looked like a forest. Haneun sighed, pulling her luggage behind her and adjusted her backpack on her back, following the signs to the building. Although it was right in front of her, the school was a long walk away.

As she reached the gates, many cars were parked outside the school and parents were saying goodbye to their children. Haneun followed the crowd, not entirely sure where to go and joined a line even though she was utterly confused. Only at the end of the line did Haneun realised that it was for registration.

"Name please," the administrator stated.

"Um...Lee Haneun."

The administrator paused for a while and looked up at Haneun. "Size."

"Size?"

"Uniform size."

"Oh...small," Haneun said and a set of uniform was handed to her.

"Just going over a few school rules. The number one rule is to never let others know what you are. Although everyone here is special, we would like to keep the academy as similar to a normal high school as possible. Second rule, do not fight or start a fight. Those are the two school rules that must never be broken. Here is a map of the school. Your dorm is right here, you may go there to change into your uniform and drop off your luggage. This is your schedule. Class start today in two hours."

After that, she was urged on and Haneun barely had any time to get her luggage as she was pushed gently away from the registration area. Following the map, Haneun headed off to the dorm to change and drop off her things. 

Haneun adjusted the tie and frowned, walking around the school with the map to get familiar with the place. "Maths is here..." she whispered, glancing over the classroom from outside before walking on.

"There are a lot of new students this year," B-Joo smirked, leaning on the railing as he looked down, watching the crowd of first years buzzing around the place. "Ah...fresh meat are always so much fun."

"They are just a bunch of stupid kids who has no idea what this place is about," Hansol said. He turned away from the railing and frowned, sniffing the air. 

Haneun walked past just then and Hansol stared after her. B-Joo saw and smirked, punching Hansol's arm. "Have you got your eyes on that one? She's pretty."

"She smells weird," Hansol said. "Come on, we've got class."

Haneun took no notice and walked on, looking down at her map and accidentally bumped into someone. "Hey, watch it," the girl said. Haneun dropped her map and looked at the girl, apologising to her. The girl looked Haneun over and frowned a little before giving her brightest smile. "Hi, my name is Suni. Nice to meet you," the girl smiled, holding her hand out.

Haneun stared at her and nodded. The girl waited for Haneun to shake her hand but she just stood and stared. She rolled her eyes and grabbed Haneun's hand, shaking it. "H-hi..." Haneun said.

"What's your name?"

"Um...Lee Haneun."

"Haneun-sshi! Hi! We're going to be BFF!" Suni grinned, hugging onto Haneun's arm and walked down the corridor with her. "So, which class are you in?"

"Er..." Haneun frowned, checking her schedule quickly or tried to because Suni was tugging on her arms a little too hard. "1A. Class 1A."

Suni stopped and looked at Haneun. "Class 1A?" She pulled Haneun to the side and made sure nobody was watching or listening to them. "What are you?" Suni asked. "What's your family?"

"What are you talking about? Even though I don't understand it, I was told to never let anyone know what I am..." Haneun said. "So um...I can't tell you what I am."

Suni frowned and suddenly attacked Haneun, forcing her to give up what Haneun was. Although she was confused, Haneun managed to dodge Suni and ran from the corridor with the other girl chasing after her. As she came out of the corridor into another one, she crashed into someone, falling on top of him. Suni gasped and stopped in her tracks.

Haneun groaned and pushed herself up slowly, staring into a pair of red eyes as she did. She gasped and scrambled up quickly but slipped and fell backward this time only to have the guy she had fallen on top of catch her. "S-sorry..." Haneun whispered.

"Oh! B-Joo-oppa...I mean, B-Joo-sunbae..." Suni greeted, bowing to another person.

"Oh look, new students," B-Joo smiled, putting his arm on Hansol's shoulder, leaning on his friend. "Hansol ah, are you not going to let go of her? You're scaring the little kittens." Hansol suddenly let go of Haneun and let her drop onto her bottom. "Okay now, kittens, sunbaenims are going off to class. You have classes too, don't you? Run along."

Haneun got up and stared at the two guys. Suni grabbed her elbow, pulling her away. "Do you know where Class 1A is?" Haneun asked but Suni only shushed her rudely, telling her to only speak when they were away.

"1A, huh?" B-Joo smirked a little. "A high class. What do you think she is?"

"Whatever she is, it's none of our business."

~.~

By lunchtime, Haneun was weirded out by the school already. Firstly, she had Suni questioning her what she was. Secondly, the guy she bumped into for some reason was wearing red contacts and no one said a thing. Thirdly, she had a class called etiquette and it didn't go too well...

Etiquette

"Welcome to your very first etiquette class. Today, we will be learning how to make instant coffee and how people interact in a café. Firstly, we will be teaching you the theory of coffee making before we get on with the practical part of the lesson. Now please turn your textbook to page 20."

Haneun had never heard of such a subject as etiquette before let alone the lesson of instant coffee making. She read through the textbook and the more she read, the more she was confused by the school. What made the entire situation even more interesting was that every student in the class looked extremely serious as if their lives depended on coffee making.

The trouble started, however, when the practical part of the lesson began. Making coffee was her daily routine and so, Haneun became the superstar in class as everyone watched her making the cup of coffee. Even the teacher was surprised.

"You must visit the human world very often!" the teacher exclaimed.

Haneun raised an eyebrow at the phrase 'human world' but decided to let it go since they were probably so cooped up on the island that they were slowly losing touch with reality. "Um...I'm from Busan," she said.

This time, everyone in class gasped.

"Busan?"

"What's Busan?"

"Is that your family name?"

"Can you eat it?"

Haneun was swamped with questions that she didn't know where they came from or how to answer any of them. In the end, the teacher broke up the crowd and made everyone get on with the practical. Although Haneun had a little peace for the rest of the class, she suddenly became the star and she was starting to feel uncomfortable with all the staring.

The staring did not stop after class either and Haneun suffered from being stared down as she made her way to the cafeteria. It seemed that news in this academy was just like in her high school; it flew with the wind and soon everyone had caught wind of what happened in etiquette class.

With no friends (and frankly, Haneun didn't want any if they were to ask odd questions and stare at her), Haneun sat alone at a table for lunch. The only normal food they had was bibimbap but when she ordered it, everyone was staring again. It was a surprise when someone joined Haneun's table and he sat right next to her, making her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Can I help you?" Haneun asked, moving to the seat next to her to get away. The guy, however, pursued her and moved next to her. "Do I know you?"

"Do you know who my father is?" the guy asked.

Haneun raised an eyebrow. "What? Why would I know who your father is?"

"Doesn't matter, you'll know who he is soon. What I need from you is help in etiquette class. How can you make a cup of coffee so easily? You even know what to eat with it as well..."

"Er...no," Haneun said. "First of all, I don't know who you are. Secondly, making coffee is easy enough and it's in your textbook. Thirdly, you're being rude so please leave me alone and let me have my lunch in peace."

"My name is Seo Sangwon but you can call me Yano. Ya know?"

"And?"

"You know my name now. Can you teach me now?"

"Haneun ah!" 

Suni came from behind and hugged Haneun, smiling brightly as she sat next to her new friend. "Haneun ah, I've heard about you in etiquette class! You're so awesome! Can you teach me how to make a cup of coffee?"

"Yah, I asked her first!" Yano complained, pulling Haneun away from Suni but Suni pulled her right back.

"Haneun's my friend, of course she'll help me."

"She's helping me!"

"No, she's helping me! Haneun ah, tell him!"

"Lee Haneun-sshi!"

"Haneun ah!"

"Haneun-sshi!"

Life at Arario Academy was definitely not going to be easy for Haneun. Grandma...where are you?!